


Thawing Relations

by Amuerion



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Meihem - Freeform, Meihem Secret Santa, Meihem-Freeform, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 18:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amuerion/pseuds/Amuerion
Summary: Off the top of her head, Mei-Ling Zhou could imagine countless better things than spending the so-called most wonderful time and final days of the year inside the trailer of an internationally most-wanted, explosions-obsessed criminal, along with his accomplice.However, a nasty surprise that arises during her environmental anomaly investigations leaves her with no other choice.Despite these inconvenient circumstances and the minefield tension between the two, her spontaneous host cannot be discouraged in his ambitions. Junkrat is dead set on letting Mei be a part of the best-possible, junkerrific Christmas holidays, which shall accompany her in her memories, long after their temporary teaming up – but while the festive spirits blossom, the two of them enrich each other, especially with what – contrary to their expectations – reveals itself far beneath the surface of their first impressions of one another.





	Thawing Relations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ohsolaurel](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Ohsolaurel).



> Dear readers,
> 
> welcome and thank you for stopping by! 
> 
> After a long break due to a lot of university duties to take care of, I finally am ready to come back to new and already existing stories, alike. When one of our Super Secret Santa dependant participants in the Meihem Secret Santa event asked for a fanfic, I just had to attend to the task - and to my surprise, the planned OS turned into a big multichapter story! I had an awful lot of fun writing it!
> 
> Before the story begins, there are a few notes I would like to share with you:  
> ° OW characters that only appear in mentions of the focus characters are not tagged for the story.  
> ° Minor OC appearances are going to occur in a few chapters. However, these are always bound to their situational context only and do not take the main focus of the fic.  
> ° While several of the characters tagged can be found in several friendly relations with one another throughout the story, it will remain meihem-centric.  
> ° This story is going to be finished as I translate the individual chapters from my mother tongue into English. The update schedule striven for is between every one or two weeks, since all chapters will have an equal length as the first one.  
> ° Comments - no matter if big or small, no matter if they address things you enjoyed or constructive improvement suggestions - are always greatly appreciated! If you'd like to leave them here for me to see, I'd love to hear about your thoughts and perhaps even effectively make use of the things I learn from it - because learning never stops!
> 
>  
> 
> Special Thanks go out to:
> 
> * _Pandicorn_ : Thank you so much for being a great help with all uses of Chinese in this fanfic!
> 
> * _TheDeathEcchi_ : In general, simply for existing in the same time period as I do and being such a treasure of a person <3 Some of your personal and creative magic found its way into this fic. 
> 
> And of course: To _you_ , for taking the time and interest to read this story. I hope something nice happens to you today!

The moment she saw the ice shards of her own protective wall flying full tilt over her head, Mei’s most profound wish was nothing more than to have acted against her own nature today.

It had been a noble cause, which had brought her far away from St. Petersburg to this snow-covered tundra. Climate specialists as much as the ones directly involved, unfortunately, even victims in most cases, had made a report to her about a rather bizarre environmental phenomenon.

Like a bad omen, it had come over the lands with the wind and succeeded in reaching even the heart of Volkskaya Industries by now. Not only mere snowflakes came along with it. The true cause for alarm were chunks of ice that joined them in continuously-increasing masses and made any hailstone look laughable with the unpredictability of their appearance. Those who were not troublesome for their small size and vast amount were all the more heavier and sharper.

Unfortunately, the cause of this threat was far from certain. It was possible to track back the motion progress of the anomaly, however, which was their greatest hope for determining the point of manifestation of what they had dubbed “ _The Dagger Squalls_ ”.

　　

Mei, along with her faithful assistant and friend, her weather modification drone Snowball, thus decided to research into the problem on a scientific expedition in an instant.

It either took a benevolent heart, complete ignorance of the surrounding circumstances or sheer lunacy to be in search for answers in this godforsaken, endless-seeming snow desert.

　　　　

Not by any stretch of the imagination had Mei expected to meet a living soul out here. Despite that, it was something different that had caught sight of her, during this march without any sense of time - and as it initiated its greeting ritual, by bombarding her, she wished that it had never come to this.

　　　

Well camouflaged in the distance and its coloured components, Mei had stumbled into a lethal guard’s field of vision. A fine specimen of the Elite-Bastion-Model, which, thanks to its warmth sensors, motion feedback and her failed advances with her endothermic blaster, had classified Mei as an enemy.

　　　　

The two researchers did not even know what hit them, once they threw themselves into the snow behind a swiftly-raised ice wall to intercept the elimination machine’s munition fire. Nevertheless, their spark of hope broke apart even _faster_ than it had been brought into existence.

　　

As much as Mei, through the gravity of the situation and the rattling of the Gatling gun, realized that she had to think of a good plan to free them out of this predicament - her heart seemed to try to escape out of her chest and her head became too heavy to do so. She refused to take hasty actions in the rush of panic, only for the sake of having done _something_ , especially if any mistake made could turn out to be her _last_.

　　

Thus, a benevolent heart had been trapped in the ignorance of all surrounding circumstances - and _sheer lunacy_ did not wish to keep them waiting any longer, either.

　　　　　　　

Something that Mei never would have dared to hope for rose against the wind. It was a powerful, belligerent screaming: “ **Oi, ye scrapheap nursing case**!”

　　　　

As if the combat system were capable of surprise, its munition fire came to a short halt from hearing these words.

　　　　

“ **Ya heard me, sunshine!** ” the shouter added from afar. “ **This rat’s gonna show yer a-tat some _professional_ kawoomin’! Look at me, ye shameful dipstick! Find yerself a target that’ll make you _sweat_ that oil!** ”

　　　　

Behind the last ice wall tips that had remained, Mei held on to her forehead in shock - that _voice._

　　　　

She was able to distinguish this voice from a thousand. There were several million people in this country - and _he_ had to show up at such an inconvenient time in such an inconvenient place!

　　　　

Mei had barely recognized his voice, when it brought back the memories. Memories of a destruction-hungry, from chronic self-overestimation suffering, a metropolis of bacterial cultures in his soot carrying, no-good bully, whose path had once crossed with hers through a silly coincidence, while she would have preferred their paths to never cross again.

Despite this strong urge for keeping her distance, there was a saying of guidance, which arose from her most sincere convictions of fighting for a better world and even had accompanied her through all her chapters and ways of life, that now - at this very moment - seemed to set the air ablaze: _There are no “coincidences”, because there are logical explanations to discover for everything there is._

The provocation of their surprising help was crowned with success. He had gained the Bastion’s attention with flying colours and, in return, gifted Snowball and Mei with the perfect opportunity to roll to the side. Together, they peeked through the ice tips, in order to observe the recent happenings in full view.

　　

What she saw let her gasp in disbelief.

　　

There he stood. There stood Jamison “Junkrat” Fawkes, just as impulsive, covered in bombs and headstrong as Mei had remembered him, in nothing but his worn out boot, one fingerless glove and patched shorts, amidst the lashing winds with a few dozen degrees below zero, as if there was nothing to fear out here apart from _himself_.

　　

Except for an old tennis racket that seemed to have gotten a lot of love on the court for a long time, judging by its looks, and now had gone through retraining to stop his prosthetic leg from sinking in, there were no further precautions he had taken against the wild, blowing snow. Worried that the result of his carelessness would fall apart in the moment she gave it a second glance, it was far too concern-evoking for Mei to comprehend.

Just as relaxed as he presented himself, the worldwide-wanted criminal behaved. In fact, he seemed to enjoy being the center of attention - even for the price of gambling with his life.

"Oh my gosh, _please_ don’t!” struck with fright, Mei was unable to remove her hands from her face. The moment she was able to gather the courage for letting her eyes see through her splayed out fingers, she could barely watch how Junkrat dashed across the snow like a bolt of lightning, drawing his zigzag traces for the Bastion to follow and dodging the shots in dance, if not even in sliding beneath the line of fire.

"Dance, rust scum, dance with me!” laughing beneath his hail of grenades, to him, the chase appeared to be nothing but a game.

　　

In the back of Mei’s head, however, a horrid picture took shape. A terrible end that she did not wish upon _anyone_ and wanted to avoid at all costs in equal measure.

　　

Eye contact with her was all that Snowball needed to understand that it was time to save someone’s life. Long before their opponent could react, the drone had already covered the Bastion’s field of view in snow, trying to buy the others time. Nevertheless, this rescue plan was anything but hazard-free, since an unimagined force of destruction slumbered inside of Mei’s small friend.

　　

Therefore, she bundled all the power her new-found courage could gather and sent it flying towards the sky from her funnel-shaping hands to the one, who was heading right for her: " **Junkrat! Stay away from that thing!** ”

　

In a high curve of pure explosive force, the junker leaped over his prey by the help of his trusted concussion mine.

　

Only when Mei began to jump up and down, waving from below, he was able to spot her.

Jamison recognized her right away. Her behaviour, the tone in her voice, her entire appearance was so memorable. The certainty that it was indeed her let his eyes light up and brought a soft smile onto his lips.

When the Bastion’s shots had lured him out here, the only thing he hoped to find was a small, amusing way to free himself from boredom and way too much time to kill. Never would he have dreamed to have the pleasure of speaking with _her_ a second time.

　　　　

In a calm, almost unhearable tone, Junkrat struggled with accepting this sweet surprise as the truth: “... _Mei_....” as quickly as he had recognized her, he became all the more aware what danger she was in. From one second to another, Jamison’s eyes widened, while he screamed at the top of his voice: " **What in the devil’s name’s brought _you_ out here?** ”

　　

,, **I could ask you the same thing, you klutz!** ” making use of her endothermic blaster, in order to create a slide line, Mei hurried to his landing point.

When she tried to catch him, the poor junker came crashing in way too fast for him to realize how he landed in her arms in full swing, causing them both to fall and slide further away with Mei’s own momentum, until the huge snowdrifts were able to stop them.

He had hardly regained eye contact with her, along with a vague sense for where he had landed, when Jamison climbed to his feet from Mei in shock: "Hooly Dooly!” his nervous hands dug through the snow in a haste to find his grenade launcher. ,,We’re on our best way ta be turned into human _sprinklers_ \- an’ you jus’ wanna _accept_ it, cuddlin’ it all out?” he gave her a baffled look and raised a brow. ,,No way! All given toime, snowflake!” Junkrat giggled and reloaded his weapon. ,,All given toime!”

“A simple “ _Thanks for looking out for me _” would have done it!” Mei grumbled, as she got up and blew some streaks of hair out of her sight with a loud huff.__

__  
_ _

Seeing him up close at this moment in time was an even more unpleasant sight for her worried eyes than usual. From his ears to the tip of his nose, the biting cold had covered his face in a glowing red, but in his focus on the target, he seemed to just disregard it.

__

They had to end this - the sooner the better.

__

Even before she could settle on a shared plan with him, Jamison was certain that he had figured out what was happening thanks to Snowball: “Look at those filthy gearbox vultures!”

__

His ice-cold, prosthetic metal arm made Mei jump, the moment he put it around her and pointed towards their robotic company with his grenade launcher.

____

“For now, they didn’t even manage gettin’ _one_ of us down and still favour beatin’ each other up over our remains! Jus’ when I believed those drongos couldn’t get any more inhumane...”

__

His remark was outrageous to her, but Mei controlled her temper. She was aware that Junkrat could not know the immeasurable value Snowball had to her. Freeing herself from the junker's grasp with a light push, she tried to object: "The flying one isn’t evil! That’s my-”

__

Much further she could not go, though.

__

Grinning from one ear to another, Junkrat had noticed the direction of Mei's sliding path. Burning for action as he was, he did not bother to listen to her any longer, rummaging around for something in his bag: “What do we have here? Now that’s an envy-fuelin’ plan, if I’ve ever seen one. Thanks, mate!”

____

Mei was clueless as to why Junkrat felt a need to thank her at first, until he pulled another concussion mine out of his bag.

____

“Two 'possums in the same trap, jus’ how I loike it!” laughing in anticipation, the junker went for a sidestep and a big swing with the mine in his hand, sending it across the ice to Snowball and the Bastion, like a curling puck of damnation.

____

No matter how loud Mei shrieked and begged him not to do it, as she pulled him down into the snow with herself, Jamison had already pushed the button.

____

Hearing her worried screaming, Snowball hesitated with starting his blizzard. It was supposed to make sure their opponent remained immobilized - but it did not come to this. Way before the drone could even realize that it had to dodge out of the way, the Bastion got blasted upwards, right into Snowball’s snow exhausts. Their collision sent the drone on a long journey towards a mountain slope.

____

"I’m coming, Snowball, hang in there!” a second time, Mei did her best to slide to her friend’s rescue fast enough to protect him from severe impact damage.

____

Junkrat, however, was only able to watch, without any understanding, why Mei slid after the small drone on her self-made path of ice.

____

Stopping his nose from running through a long sniff, the junker remained calm and talked to himself: “...Now, wouldcha believe it? Ye almost pay with yer other leg for sum noice an’ safe bein’ together and what does _she_ do? Runs straight fo’ a disaster in the shape of a handbag-friendly killin’ machine! Usually, the small ones of tha bunch tend ta be the most dangerous ones - case in point bein’ _her_ humble self...Wait a tic...” Junkrat narrowed his eyes in suspicion and noticed how something rose out of the snow from afar. ,,Oh, for cryin’ out loud! _Still_ haven’t had ‘nough o’ dat`?”

____

Slowly but surely, the Bastion started to get on Jamison’s nerves, as it made it back onto its feet and tried to target Mei and Snowball. The pesky drone had stopped it from fulfilling its duty long enough. It had to take up pursuit.

____

,,Roight. That’s it! Rest in pieces!” Junkrat only had to see from the corner of his eye how the monstrosity dared to raise its firing arm to Mei and he freed himself of the heavy load on his back - the infamous RIP-tire.

__

If he was honest with himself, he could have fired in the hole much sooner - but what worth was in a job done quick in contrast to having a _blast_ of a time? One way or another, their opponent was defeated by Junkrat’s most perilous invention, yet, spreading its separates into all directions. With satisfied laughter, the junker watched them fly. From the variety of colours and bursting light and fire, to the devastating power and the unique sounds of different things being blown to bits - for Jamison, explosions were a spectacle of enchanting essence, no matter how often he witnessed them on a daily basis.

____

By ill luck, his go-to method for most of his problems demanded its price to be paid. From those at rapid speed flying, red-hot remains, which scattered over the ice desert - Mei was not spared, either.

____

Just when she had jumped, catching Snowball in his fall, and her drone prepared itself to secure a safe landing for them, one of the scorching metal pieces crashed into Mei's side hell for leather, causing the two of them to fall right into the middle of a rock fissure.

____

Barely having gotten over the major scare, Snowball wiggled himself out of Mei’s arms, in order to make out how much damage was done. The drone let out an elongated, relieved “Phew!”, when it noticed the huge load of snow it had managed to fire, despite its panic from the unexpected collision.

____

Despite this, he still had to succeed in rescuing Mei. Again and again Snowball beeped in alarm, flying around her and calling her name. He got angry with himself for not being able to just lift her up and pull them out of here - but every attempt to make her come back to her senses was worth another ten. 

____

„…Wǒ zài nǎlǐ [1]?“ a dazed and confused murmur asked beneath Snowball in Chinese. 

____

　It seemed as if the collision had been strong enough to even toss the memories out of Mei’s head, which had been hardly a couple of minutes old. No matter where she was right now, she felt beyond miserable. Her whole head ached. It felt like there was an elephant, riding a tightrope on a unicycle from one of her brain’s halves to the other, dragging the whole construct downwards with its own weight. From her right side, she could feel next to nothing anymore, even though she had no trouble with moving her arms and legs.

__

Instead of making her even more insecure through his own worries, Mei’s little friend pulled himself together and began to shine on their surroundings with his glowing eyes.

__

Within this rock fissure, where one could barely lay down, the walls, which were only three large steps apart, were covered ever further in uneven structures.

____

“ _There must be a way to get back into the light all the way up, somehow!_ ” Snowball thought, shining his light on the rock walls little by little and from top to bottom.

____

Curious and capable enough again to observe Snowball’s actions, Mei tried to get up from her right side - and regretted doing so the second she had moved. 

____

Near her waist, an abhorrent, stinging pain spread itself on contact with the ground, which did not even leave her with the strength to scream. As much as she wished to stand up, her body did not obey her will. Neither did her voice. It made this unsettling situation all the odder for Mei, causing her to look at herself.

____

Right there, where the pain seemed to have its strongest point, something had burned through her parka all the way down to her skin. It had left a blazing mark. The longer Mei looked at it, the more she believed that one could watch the swelling grow. Nothing but breathing through her wide open mouth was left for her to do in this dismay, until she would be able to regain what this injury had robbed of her.

____

At the same time, her spontaneous ally could not even guess what had happened to Mei. Junkrat ran from one smoking piece of scrap to the next. While he was in an immense haste to find something in particular, he turned the metal pieces around several times, looking at them from all sides. The more careful he touched the broken parts, the more the fingers of his human hand started to hurt. By now, the freezing cold had bitten through his flesh from top to bottom and seemed to have huge fun with sending a burning sensation across his entire skin.

____

“Gotta speed it up...” he groaned, eyeing the scrap beneath his warm breath. Jamison became all the angrier, once he realized that he had checked all of the parts he had been able to spot in chronological order. Despite his efforts, what he was looking for was nowhere to be found.

____

Enraged by this, Junkrat laid his hands on his hips, took a deep breath into the howling wind and spoke to himself in sarcasm: “Truly a classic. I _love_ it when that happens!” once again, he raised his brows, narrowed his eyes to slits and stared into the distance. ,,How far could sumodose parts even fly? Really gotta note that down at some point - and find that damned thing! There’ll be no land fo’ us to see anymore from all the trouble we’ll be in, if I don’t!” the junker let his gaze run over the landscape, growing all the more impatient: “Where is it...where _is_ it? Where’s that scumbag’s _battery_?”

____

Only then, something rang a bell in his head. Junkrat had a vague idea, where the object he sought could be hidden. There was one last direction he had not chosen until now, namely the one in which Mei had disappeared too - but also she seemed to be as impossible to find as the Omnic battery.

____

As fast as his foot and tennis racket could carry him through the snow, Jamison ran towards the brink of the fissure, where Mei’s line of ice had found its sudden end. Though it had a lot to struggle with, even in this terrible weather, Junkrat’s delicate nose never let him down. There was a smell of burnt fabric in the air.

____

Indeed, his nose should not mislead him, as Jamison discovered a small piece of it that had flown onto his boot. The pattern on it was unmistakeable - and all the more unsettling.

____

When Snowball was able to hear Junkrat’s calling from above, the drone grumbled in annoyance. It did not want to leave Mei alone in this mess she was in, especially not with him, but should it be discovered near Mei, once the junker would find them, Snowball had no chance to help Jamison understand in a reasonable manner that he was on their side. Therefore, the drone decided to hide in its resting spot on Mei’s blaster tank, deciding to remain quiet, but all the more watchful.

____

“ **Mei?** ” Jamison asked at the top of his voice, while he leaned himself over the edge as far as possible. 

____

It did not take long until a relieved sigh escaped him. He could see the blue lines of her parka, glowing blue in the depths of the dark, as they moved with Mei’s waving arm.

____

“...Junkrat?” her voice faintly reached him up there.

__

“ **Are ye in a bit of a bad fix?** ” he asked her again in his shrillest voice.

____

Mei let a frustrated laugh slip and called back up to him, after a short pause: “ **No! I _love_ to retreat to the bottom of the abyss, in search for my soul's middle! It’s a hobby of mine!”**

__**  
** _ _

“Alroight, alroight”, Junkrat understood, taking a deep breath. “ **Don’t move, snowflake, I’m on me way! I’m only a change o’ view away from gettin’ ya outta there!** "

___ _

Jamison had a faint assumption of what Mei’s point was. No matter how much she wanted to, there was no way for her to escape this trap of mother nature by own strength alone. With that in mind, he also did not see a reason to hesitate climbing downwards and jumping right beside her to her aid.

___ _

In the meantime, Mei had pulled herself back on her feet with pain and misery by the help of the wall to her left. Gritting her teeth, she leaned on it, trying to compose herself. She felt sick, but matters would only get worse, once she would give in to this feeling. Mei was all the more surprised to see Junkrat next to her on such a short notice. However, neither of them were in good shape.

___ _

The way down had put the boot into Junkrat. Within this slim gap, free from the romping winds and without the slightest full motion push of adrenaline, it occurred to him how much his body had endured so far. It did not hesitate to give him a tit-for-tat response to what he had put it through.

___ _

Mei had wondered for a while, how it was even _possible_ for anyone, to brave such a harsh climate with next to _nothing_.

___ _

A tremendous chill rushed through him, leaving Jamison only with agonized gasps for air.

___ _

“ **Dingospit, shoddy garb and _suit sweat_!** ” he cursed and winced. “ **It’s colder than a snowman’s rump on a _bobsled track_**!”

__****_ _

Even though he kept shouting and cursing to his heart’s content, inflaming himself with rage could not ease the shakes.

__**  
** _ ****_

_Junkrat gave Mei a reproachful look: “Where can I foile me complaint in? You an' that weather-care- _punch-me-dead_ -association o' yours should _forbid what’s goin’ on here!”

__

Knowing that he asked for a hypercorrection, instead of a genuine improvement, Mei kept a straight face.

_****_

“You know...” she began in a quiet tone. “Perhaps you wouldn’t have this problem right now...” her headache continued to force pauses onto her. “Wouldn’t you be so hell-bent on getting your way...and think things through for a change...”

__

Her attempt to appeal to his conscience struck Junkrat with anguished impatience. Truth to be told, she was right - that did not mean he had to _like_ it, though.

__

“Don’tcha even _dare_ questionin’ me strategic abilities! Those are _always_ some cuttin’-edge givers fo’ everyone who’s blessed to witness ‘em!” offended as he was, Jamison raised a warning finger, if only for a short while.

__

When he hid his left hand beneath what was left of his right arm and a rueful tone squeezed itself through his teeth that would not stop chattering, they both knew that was not true.

__

“Th...The-the theory is n-n-n-ne-never ever the p-p-p-problem! It’s mo...mo-mo-more-” he groaned and panted with rage, feeling embarrassed that the cold gave him serious trouble with speaking for himself.

__

As much as Mei knew that all of what angered him now could have been avoided, she still felt sorry for him. In order to not make him feel even worse, she exercised patience and refrained herself from finishing Jamison's sentences on his behalf.

_****_

“It’s m-m-mo-more a-a-a...about put-puttin’ things into p-p-p-p- **practise! Crud!** ” he cried out in frustration that Mei flinched from the unexpected raising of his voice. “That’s...where...th-the...” hoping he would speak better, if he waited for the right moment, Junkrat’s pauses grew longer - at least that was half of the story. In equal measure, the junker was afraid of the ultimate embarrassment of biting his tongue in front of Mei in all of the chattering. “That’s...where the din...the dingo lies...buried. M-m-m-matters t-t-te-tend to always...deviate from...f-f-from the plan.”

__

There was a lot that Jamison expected from her, after his attempt to defend his pride - but not her puzzled expression and shrug, in a complete lack of understanding, when she asked: “If this truly isn’t your kind of weather, though, is that not reason enough to take _extra_ good care of yourself?”

_****_

“I’m master an' slave of me own life’s dedication, what am I s’posed ta do?” Junkrat whined back at her as fast as he could. “I...I was jus’...a-about ta”, trying to excuse himself, he leaned against the wall and used his tennis racket snowshoe as evidence that he lifted up for Mei to see in the circle movements he made with his prosthetic leg. “B-bu-bu-but what am I s’posed ta d-d-d-do, once...once those p...pieces o’ junk make ‘ems-s-se-se-selves felt?”

_****_

“Make sure that _you’re_ not the one, who makes _their_ job easier?” she asked such a blunt question - in such a friendly tone - that Junkrat, frozen in shock, could only stare at her with his gaping mouth that even his teeth were able to catch a break.

__

His eyes widened, as he kept shaking his head: “Impossible...yer flatout _impossible_!”

__

“Well...what can I say to that?” Mei could not hold back a smirk and glanced to the side for a second, before she looked him directly in the eyes for her explanation: “I had a pretty good _teacher_!”

__

Seeing her wink, Jamison could only let out a squeak of despair. Against all of his expectations, for the very first time, she had, even though in an indirect manner, praised him - and once more against all of his expectations, it did _not_ feel good in their current situation.

__

“Y-yeah, roight, yer...yer-”, Junkrat slapped his own cheeks, in hopes of making himself sound a little less like a broken record, “Yeah roight, ye snow fairy, yer...yer havin’ th-the best toime now i-i-in yer the-the-the-thermo outfit, w...weighin’ a ton!”

__

Mei denied this in an instant by the gentle shaking of her head and her warm smile. Again, that was far from true.

_****_

Upset about his own clumsiness, Jamison shook his fists: “Allodat...would...w-wouldn’ be ha-ha-half as...bad, if it w-weren’t fo’ that d-d-d-disgustin’ wind! It...It can’t even d-d-d-decoide which...which direction it w-wa-wantsta come from!

__

Mei responded with a concerned nod.

__

“This c-c-c-c-constant hammerin’ in fo-fo-from...from all soides that...that’s already ab...abnormal! Ohohohoho, damn it!” pulling his left arm towards himself, while he stretched his icy metal arm as far away from him as possible, Junkrat got angry, especially for the fact that neither being horizontally nor vertically challenged, when it came to his physical appearance, turned out to be an advantage here.

__

He thus decided to make up the most creative insults for this hatred-nourishing weather coming to mind, while he began to jump from one leg onto the other and rub his right side at the fastest pace possible, expecting to bring at least a little warmth back into his bones from it.

__

“...I can’t watch this any longer...” Mei decided, the moment she saw that. Jamison’s carelessness had cost him enough karma points for today - more than enough to make her let her blaster slide down and attend to her backpack.

_****_

At a first glance, the poor junker misunderstood what Mei planned to do next: “Oh, d-do-don’t mind me! Ye w-w-won’t recog...re-recognoize me as an icicle an...anyhow!”

_****_

“I’m not ignoring you, silly”, Mei reaffirmed, as she tried to calm him down and opened the backpack, “Let’s have a look inside and see what good I can do you!”

_****_

“Oh yeah, sure!” Junkrat replied in a high-pitched, trembling, elongated sarcasm. “O-of course ye will...have an extra coat...or s-some mittens...” his breathing became heavy from the pain he felt by the rhythmic clenching of his left fist and spraying out its fingers. “I’d kill for some mittens!”

_****_

With a strict “Don’t even think about it!” and a warning glare, she pulled an entire expedition outfit into view.

_****_

This sudden chance of feeling better let Junkrat’s eyes light up. Judging by the bright colours, he needed no further convincing for the assumption that he would not lack anything thanks to it.

_****_

Mei did not waste much time hesitating and let her backpack fall in front of her for the clothing to land on. It was only when she bent forward to pull out the first piece that she remembered her stinging side and how she, too, was in need of help.

__

Jamison became curious about the source for her gasps of pain. His gaze followed hers to Mei’s right side. The second he spotted what her hand wished to hold on to, but hesitated to hide from knowing the touch would make it worse, Junkrat let out an appalled hissing noise.

__

In his life, the junker had dealt with too many extensive burns first hand to not feel, even if just by imagination alone, in the same place what Mei had to struggle through at this moment. Knowing that covering the injury would make it equally worse as leaving it to such ruthless exposure, it saddened Jamison to be unable to help her. He had the experience and necessities to ease her pain. The only disheartening hitch to it was that he did not have the latter _on hand_.

__

Discovering something this terrible, there was no doubt about it. Mei had not found the Bastion’s battery. Instead, the battery had found _her_ and that in the worst way possible.

_****_

Both of them were more than aware that, despite having rid themselves of their chaser, their situation had not improved in the slightest when it came to danger - so both of them equally wished for Mei's endurance to take on a _superhuman_ scale.

__

Even though Mei tried her best to not let her achings constrain her determination to help, it was this matter of fact that silenced the junker.

_****_

There was a pesky voice in the back of his head, which let Jamison press his lips together in dismay. It tried to force him, in the most demanding tone, to apologize to Mei for what had happened with an honest heart. At the same time, another inner voice, which Junkrat recognized as his own, tried to rather look for several excuses it could make to his unwanted and sore conscience. His insecurities tried to keep the upper hand, while they continued to stress that he had _never_ been great with excuses, how they _never_ seemed to be enough, no matter _how_ hard he had tried. After all, it would only turn out chopped up and all the more pathetic, since he was chilled to the bone. 

_****_

“Now, come here...” Mei’s reconciling voice brought his attention back to her. “Let’s get you warmed up!”

_****_

Contrary to his ways, even contrary to his own expectations, Jamison looked at her and hesitated.

__

She was just as surprised that this time, no answer at all proved to be an answer that sufficed. It felt to Mei like there was something holding him back from accepting her offer.

__

“Oh yes, you _can_ use all of this”, she encouraged him with a demonstrating gesture of her hand to the pile of clothes below, “Trust me, I don’t mind...”

__

He kept staring at her in disbelief, trying his best to shove away the worry that the considerate smile she gave him was nothing but another trick of the mind.

__

“In fact, I’d be happy to help you”, Mei insisted, “Stuffed together, they won’t do any good...that and you need them much _more_ than me...”

__

All of what she said was right - in fact, Junkrat would have welcomed a more merciful turn of events that could help him feel more like himself again, instead of being reduced to a shivering mess. Seeing Mei's injury come together in the most unappetizing colours on the swelling, however, left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. 

_****_

Certain to do the right thing, she disregarded all these troubles and looked for a suitable beginning.

_****_

Meanwhile, she explained to Jamison in a calm tone: “There are a couple of things you simply must have with you as an adventurer”, squatting on her haunches, she peered as her hands kept searching, “In places like this one, it could happen that some ways to your destination only lead across water, or even ice. A wide river, a frozen lake...you never know", she made a quick grasp for the back of her head, starting to massage it, "One should not always think of the worst things to happen, but keep in mind they _do_ happen. Being dragged along, breaking through...If you are travelling without dry clothes in reserve...things can become _very_ ugly, _very_ fast.”

__

They both gulped, as the mental image of the dangers described took shape in front of their inner eyes.

__

Luckily, Mei was able to take their minds off it, after she found what she was looking for with a little rattling: “Junkrat, could you _please_ take your foot out of your boot for a moment? I _promise_ , I’ll hurry!”

_****_

The junker obliged, as soon as Mei had gotten back up. It pained her to see how easy it was for Junkrat to let his foot slide out of it - not even _that_ suited him the way it should.

_****_

“I would _love_ to give you a proper boot, too, but your foot is a little longer and much slimmer than mine”, she realized the moment she saw it, “Walking around in a shoe that doesn’t fit for ages does more harm than good.”

_****_

“Those bandages ain’t a fashion statement, y’know?” Jamison thought, not upset about Mei’s words, but rather about the truth she stated. What he had dubbed his "nervous dog tail foot" was one of the most melodramatic snobs he knew. Even after Junkrat had stopped growing, there was hardly any shoe in the world that it did _not_ find faults with the second he let it slide in.

__

Leaning against the wall, Jamison lifted up his foot as high as possible, while Mei got a hold of it. With a surprised gasp and a flash of light in his eyes, he soon came to understand why, when she unrolled a long scarf.

__

“Oh, no, _no_ , you don’t have to overexert yourself like that! Just relax and leave it right here”, Mei suggested and bent her left leg. After she had placed the middle of the scarf on her knee, she led Jamison’s foot onto it with her hand, “There we go! You're doing _good_! Now, please, stay like this for a moment. I’ll take care of the rest. It won’t take long!”

__

Flabbergasted, the junker witnessed how Mei led the scarf around the bandages, wrapping his foot and his lower leg in warm, colourful fleece with the utmost care.

__

“Nobody enjoys a day with freezing feet”, she spoke from experience, as she secured one end of the scarf below his knee and pulled the other one over his toes to stuff it into the snug wrapping.

__

Jamison let out a quiet, shaky laugh - but the fact that he was able to laugh again, took a massive weight off their minds.

_****_

“Roast me...a ‘p-po-possum in the ex...exhaust pipe!” he gaped and wiggled his toes in Mei’s soft scarf. “That’s the...the b-best im-impromptu s-s-s-ock I’ve e-ever s-s-s-seen!”

_****_

One more time, Mei checked with a strong press of her hand, whether nothing could slide out of place and replied: “I’m glad it helps!”

__

Their eyes met, as they exchanged a smile.

_**  
** _ ****

_“Could you _please_ put your foot back into the boot again and check, if it pinches? I’ll start over, if it hurts!”_ 　　 

****

She did not need to tell him twice. Noticing that his foot was secure and comfortable in his old boot for a change, the junker was all the happier.

When Mei caught a glimpse of happiness on his face, she could not help but share it. She clapped her hands and giggled in a small jump of celebrating the satisfactory result.

It was such a gentle, adorable sound that Jamison could hardly believe his ears, when he heard it.

“Sorry, _sorry_ , I’m sorry, sorry”, she felt as if her rightful joy had cost them valuable time, but Jamison could not care less.

Through his aching and lifting cheeks, he felt how _contagious_ her shy smile was, once Mei tried to contain herself.

“ _Never_ ‘pologize fo’ a heartfelt laugh...’Specially when it makes ya look even better, ye should make more use of it...Sure as heck looks _gorgeous_ on ya!” Jamison thought to himself and was too focused on Mei to be angry about the fact that telling her all of this would have to wait.

“Life has cost you two limbs, already...Let’s make sure that the other two stay where they belong!” one act of kindness was not where it stopped for Mei, as she helped the junker into one warming layer after another.

****

“Wind- and waterproof, just the way it should be!” Mei beamed with pride.

“Fire- and _tear_ proof...now _that_ would be a genius combo!” Junkrat objected. “S'a serious market gap...One could earn a golden honker with that idea!”

Just once, she decided to let his cheeky commentary slide. It proved that Jamison was on the road to recovery, more than anything else.

****

“Oh dear...” as soon as the junker zipped Mei’s reserve parka and she stepped back a little, it became impossible for her to hold in a snorting laughter. “Turns out to be a little small, doesn’t it?”

****

Trying to stop her worries by a wave of his hand, Jamison responded with a quiet “Nah!”, accompanied by a wide smile.

****

Granted, the parka felt quite tight around his wide shoulders, while its sleeves barely made it over his elbows - and Mei did not get over the looks of it, in combination with the snow overall trousers that adjusted to his regular shorts in size more than she _wanted_ them to.

****

Being cared for in such a thoughtful and endearing way, Jamison did not mind, whether he looked like he had squeezed himself into a skiing outfit for a child or not, especially if it kept Mei laughing. As much as he liked pulling her leg in good fun, he never would have had the nerve to utter special requests - not when she was going out of her way to ensure that he was fine.

Despite this, Mei let out a quiet sigh and could not help it: “...I'm so sorry about that...”

Junkrat kept looking at her, while he pulled up the arm warmer she had lent him: “Ye shouldn’t...I mean it, ye seriously shouldn’t...” Even a touch of his metallic hand could not make his left arm ache now.

While his shivering had eased up quite a bit, Mei could not guess that a far less visible cause of discomfort than the grim cold had gotten a hold of Jamison.

****

Noticing first-hand how much good Mei had done him with her efforts, he got lost in thought. To him, it brought up the sincere question why he had not treated himself to something this nice much sooner.

There was no stopping Mei as his good fairy, until she considered her job well-done.

“Finally! It’s your turn!” she said with the fur-lined mittens in her hands “One of you might be a little different, but that doesn’t have to mean you don't deserve a good mitten to stay in, too.”

Seeing her attend to the matter in such joy, the junker could not help but laugh: “Yer seriously talkin’ to me hands?”

****

“I might?” Mei laughed right back at him and gave him a testing smirk “Don’t tell me you never started conversations with no one to take _part_ in it!”

****

Caught in her right assumption, Junkrat turned his head to the side and cleared his throat, whereupon Mei could only laugh louder. To him, it seemed like her heart-warming laughter became all the sweeter, the more often she shared it with him. As distant and jostling away as she had been to him in the past - by the looks and especially the feeling of this, Jamison knew that he was able to trust his gut. It had kept his conviction alive that the first impression was far from everything that Mei truly was. Now, neither of them could look past this tender loving care of hers.

****

She had barely secured his human hand in the mitten, when she began to massage his fingers through it. In order to ensure the cold would move out like the unwanted house guest it was, as Mei put it.

****

Only by convincing her that his hand did not hurt any longer, Jamison got her to let go of it - and seeing it enwrapped in hers, it was impossible for him to persuade himself that his own scattiness did not bother him. It was in his nature to embrace the chaos and master it, while not wasting a single thought on what could befall him along the way.

**  
　　　**

Mei, however, proved to have a vast knowledge of countless causes and effects to take place in her adventures, even long before she undertook them. According to the estimated possibilities, she made her preparations and still showed the kindness of sharing the fruit of her labour with those, who could have made a better effort.

On top of that, she was not even _obliged_ to take care of him. Their paths crossing for the first time was a far away memory now.

****

Back then, on the one hand, he did not have the foggiest idea who she was, but she carried an aura within her, if not even a similar aura to the one he had sensed in the person Junkrat entrusted with his life in present times.

****

She, on the other hand, had known everything about him there was to know in terms of the global news and police records.

****

Awakening her interest with a little joke, as he ever so often did, intending to start a nice conversation with her, had been worth a shot. Unfortunately, his reputation and flaws preceded him enough to convince her that it was better for both of them to never meet again. How he could possibly look at himself in the mirror was beyond her understanding, after all.

To this day, they neither had talked to each other, nor seen one another again. The only place uniting them were the monthly news, in which the world came to realise how busy she was saving the world, while he gave humanity something to think about, by levelling its self-built stains on justice to the ground. 

****

Despite all of this, they had found back together. Here she was, helping him out of his dilemma with settling for nothing but the best she could do, almost as if she had done so for a lifetime, already.

The more he warmed up, especially to _her_ , Jamison felt uneasy with the certainty that Mei put his troubles above her own. Even though he hated to admit it to himself, endangering Mei and making her come to harm had been as unintentional as it had been unnecessary - and no matter how often she tried to convince both of them that there was nothing to worry about, her strained waist and what she tried to repress in her concentration told him otherwise.

Apart from her own benevolence, she had no reason to help him.

“...Junkrat? Earth to Junkrat - _yoo-hoo_! Oh, thank goodness!” it took her a couple of tries, but Mei was relieved to see the junker returning to her from his daydreams. “I need your help one last time. Could you _please_ come a little closer with your head? That’s the final step, promised!”

****

Clueless as to what was supposed to still be missing from this luxury he had gotten, he stared at Mei and did as told. After she had covered Jamison’s head and ears with a hat, Mei hesitated for a second, pondered and came to the quick decision to wrap her own scarf around his neck.

**“Don’t!” Junkrat responded with concern, once she made sure everything was slip-resistant and would protect as much of his face from the wind as possible. “Yer gonna make yerself even more vulnerable than you _already_ are roight now, if I don’t stop ya!”**

****

The serious look he gave her did not discourage her, though, as she tried to assure him by a shake of her head that his fear was unfounded.

“A whole lotta harsher conditions are roight up ahead!” Jamison reminded her, pointing over their heads towards the light. “S’much as yer hard work is ‘preciated, I think it wouldn’t hurt ta be good to yerself, _too_!”

Steadtfast, Mei laid her gentle hands onto his shoulders, looked him deep in the eyes and said: “I think I’ll _manage_!”she tried to calm the junker down with her soft smile. “So will you, now that you are ready for it. _This_ here is of utmost importance!” her gentle pats moved up and down over Jamison’s hat. “You cannot possibly _imagine_ , how much warmth is lost from exposing your head to the cold!”

****

“Oi, the more y’know! Turns out it’s one heck of a lethal danger zone fo’ me!” Jamison responded with a knowing grin. “If we trust _your_ judgement, I ain’t nothin’ but hot air - jus’ dissolvin’ upwards, never to return”, he visualized the idea by moving his left mitten upwards in circles. “What a tragically borin’ way ta see someone go!”

“Ah, hush, you-” Mei stepped back and felt embarrassed. So he had remembered what she had said straight into his face almost a year ago, _after all_. Knowing this took the wind out of Mei’s sails. Afraid that it was only the tip of the iceberg - that behind one quick remark hid a countless more he wanted her to hear - made her avoid his gaze.

****

For Junkrat, however, this teasing was a good way to come to terms with these memories himself - no more, no less. That he was teasing her was the only thing he wanted to let her know, while he giggled and stroked her head.

When it came to her convictions and her self-sacrificing ways, Mei refused to give up on them, no matter what or who attempted to break them apart. Junkrat considered that to be admirable - but all the more dangerous for Mei _herself_ in many respects.

One question regarding this matter was still tearing at Jamison’s soul. He failed to understand it, especially because their past showed itself in such stark differences: “Mei...why're ya helpin’ me?”

“I’m a person”, she responded in a quiet tone and pulled up his hood, “Not a monster.”

****

Together, they looked at what Mei’s efforts had accomplished. Although she had made full use of all that she had been able to do, she still rested her chin on her knuckles, tilting her head from side to side in thought.

At last, she let her thoughts be heard: “I just hope this will do...It certainly is far from being _much_ , but-”

****

What happened then came to be too fast for her to comprehend. Mei let out a shriek at Junkrat lifting her up beneath her arms - only to find herself cheek to cheek in Jamison’s affectionate embrace. In the blink of an eye, she felt his smile on her face and heard his touched little noises, while he gently swayed to and fro with her.

“Don’t think ye can pass yerself off as innocent forever!” he said, as the tightened his grasp and cuddled her. “It should be _illegal_ ta be this brutally sweet!”

Paralyzed by all of what she heard and sensed, Mei was unable to return the hug. For a moment that seemed infinite for all the right reasons, she became sad that she could not even _remember_ the last time somebody had taken her into their arms and shown her such thankfulness with the littlest things. The way how Jamison held her safe and comfortable, how he made sure not to hurt her and gently stroked her back - there was nothing between them, nor around them, that could stop it from feeling _nice_.

“Believe me, snowflake”, Junkrat added, “It’s helpin’ a great deal!” he squeezed her in beaming joy and pride, like he had just won the biggest possible teddy bear at the fair - Mei certainly _did_ feel like such a top prize from the way the junker held her. As if he had not surprised her enough for today, she heard his quiet, earnest whisper: “Thank you, Mei...Thanks a thousand toimes...I owe ya a big one...”

****

“Bié kèqì[2]”, was all that she could return, before she gathered the courage to wrap her arms around his shoulders.

****

Even though Jamison was not able to understand the language she used in this state of surprise, the junker was confident that she had said “You’re welcome.”, since to her, such thorough care was a given.

However, the end of this peaceful, enjoyable moment was just as abrupt as its beginning. The two of them were equally alarmed, when Mei jolted upwards and gasped.

****

“Whoa, wha-? What’s goin’ _on_?” Jamison demanded to know.

The moment he let her slide downwards and observed her face, the junker feared the worst.

****

Holding on to her head, Mei could not believe that she had almost fallen asleep in Junkrat’s arms. The quick movement in hopes of keeping herself awake did not help, either. Now that Mei was not focusing on an important task any longer, her exhausted body requested the break it needed - but they lacked the space to set up camp here and whether she could make it out of the rock fissure, before her last resorts had emptied, was something that Mei did not wish to find out through a _self-experiment_.

“You hurtin’ worse up there?” Jamison asked with quiet concern, steadying her back with his hands.

Mei nodded and let out an affirmative sigh.

"Listen..." Junkrat began, searching eye contact with her. "It ain't that noice ta say, but I'm a burns specialist! I'll take ya over to _my_ place an' get it treated properly. Trust me, Mei", he held on to her shoulders and began to put a strong emphasis on every word he said, " _I'm not lyin' to you!_ "

"Okay..." she agreed, knowing that this was the best that could happen to her.

****

With a sigh of relief, Jamison gave her a quick hug, nudging her cheek with his: "Cheers for bein' not as stubborn as good ol' _yours truly_!" he lifted both of them up. "Now! Let's gitja _home_!"

Having a quick glance at her backpack, Junkrat grabbed a rope that was hanging from its side in an instant.

“Ye still able ta carry yer stuff? If so, I’ll koindly borrow this an’ make sure ye stay on me back with it, while I’ll get us up there!” the junker instructed her, while he tested the rope’s strength with a fast pull.

Despite the pressure of fleeing time in the back of their necks, Jamison gave Mei all the time and assistance she needed with her heavy baggage, as well as a break to drink.

“S’downroight nasty!” he grumbled, while he crouched and felt the arms of Mei, who was ready to leave, wrap around him from behind. “You’ve been badly hit and then fell even worse! That swellin’ o’ yours must hurt quite a bit...do ya have any more o’ dose I haven’t spotted, yet?”

****

“It could be....” Mei mumbled into his ear, pressing her fingertips against her forehead. “I couldn’t check, so far...” Her headache was unbearable. While her brain felt like it became way too big for her skull, she also sensed a tingling sensation spreading through it like a busy folk of ants.

While Jamison secured her on his back with the rope, the junker tried his best to think positive and comfort her: “No worries ‘bout that now, snowflake! I’ll getcha all patched up in no toime”, he tied the last knots around themselves and felt Mei’s head sink down next to his, “Leave keepin’ ya awake and gettin’ ya healed to yer Junkrat!”

He tilted his head to the side, until it gently touched hers, which still got her to smile through all this trouble.

****

“I’m with you...an’ you won’t be gettin’ rid o’ me that easily”, determined to succeed, Junkrat grinned and checked the rock fissure for the best spot to climb upwards, “S’long as yer not pestered by some wildly flyin’ black dots ta see, yer all foine!”

****

“I see those every now and then...” the moment she confessed this to him, Junkrat’s face threatened to derail.

****

An unsettled breath left the junker’s blown up cheeks with a loud bang. He had to keep Mei’s mind busy, until he had brought her back to safety. 

****

“Of _course_! I can help you with _climbing_!” Mei remembered, knowing what she had to do as much as him. 

Junkrat was surprised to see her blaster from the corner of his eye in a sudden.

“You don’t have to worry about us falling. I can simply make you a few solid ice stairs to climb hand over hand with _this_!”

****

****

Seeing her excellent idea unfold in action, Jamison praised Mei in the highest tones. Not only was she brave enough to give it her all on the way up in the exhausted state she was in, but he admired how useful her weapon was.

The stairs that Mei built for him were indeed large, uneven and vast spreading icicles that offered Jamison a good foothold. Focusing on the light awaiting up ahead, Junkrat also got a better look at Mei’s weapon. Since he was a passionate inventor himself, when it came to means of self-defense, he spotted tiny details on it that could not go unseen in the gaze of an experienced tinkerer.

****

After he had gotten the hang of their new climbing technique, Jamison meant to take his chance one more time. He tried to start a friendly conversation with Mei to keep her awake with something that he himself could go on about for hours: “Sure comes in handy, that icerelocaliserthingy ya brought along!”

****

“Icerelocaliser!” Mei repeated in an impressed tone, while she proceeded with her work. “That name isn’t all too bad, either!” she hesitated with a shy, quiet laugh. “At least, that would tell someone what the thing does in general, in contrast to something like “endothermic blaster”!”

An encouraging “Aww!” escaped Junkrat’s mouth: “What’s s’posed ta be so awful ‘bout that workin’ toitle?”

****

They came ever closer to the top of the fissure through steady teamwork.

****

“I mean...I can only speak for meself, but I love that main stress on _blaster_!” Jamison grinned, his mind drifting away to an entirely different teamwork concept that he rather kept to himself, until Mei had recovered. “Let’s everyone know that thing packs quite a punch. I mean...look at it!” with a demonstrating gesture of his right arm, Junkrat tried to make Mei realize how far they had come thanks to her.

“...Xièxiè[3]”, was all that the flattered Mei could utter. As much as she found the capabilities of science astounding, even in her work, she was not used to someone else around her agreeing, let alone showing open-minded interest.

When Junkrat answered her with a warm “Ah, _bee coudtshee_!”, Mei could not believe her ears.

“That’s...heh, that's what it’s s’posed ta mean, don’ it? _You’re welcome_? Bee coudtshee?”

****

It was beyond her comprehension, how the junker had picked up on the simple Mandarin Chinese phrase that fast. Even though his pronunciation could use a little polishing, Mei had to admit that she was touched to notice he showed her words this much attention.

****

She swore, his face became nice and warm, because of his heartfelt laugh, when he told her that one never knew when little things like this came in handy. Jamison thus had a little collection of survival kit sentences he tended to pick up wherever he travelled.

****

“I’m dyin' to know how such a rad weapon works, though!” Junkrat felt like changing the topic. “Must be a rather complicated system!”

Despite all of this praise, Mei remained humble: “Oh...it isn’t all that complicated, actually...It does look nice put together and with a change of paint”, she hesitated, observing her weapon, just like she did on the first day of putting it to good use, “In the end, it is nothing but disguised hoses, a water tank, a whipped cream can and a few final touches to hold them together and...cause them to produce a chemical reaction", she started to laugh over her words, getting miffed at the fact that she could neither simplify it further, nor did justice to all that had to happen, in order to make the ice appear, with her attempt to make things easier to understand. "So, yes, it’s self-made.”

Giggling to himself, Jamison shook his head in disbelief at how she described such an outstanding effort as something simple. It was impossible for her to hide from him just how much she had to tell him, would she be in better shape.

“ **That’s the _bomb_!** ” he yelled, as his assumption proved to be correct. “You made this all by yerself, _too_?”

****

“...Necessity is the mother of invention...” Mei replied, keeping the initial reasons for the blaster’s existence in perspective.

****

When he felt her shrugging shoulders on him, Jamison could not know that his strident “all by yerself” did not awake any _positive_ feelings in her.

However, there was something conspicuous that Mei remembered: “Hang on...why the “too”? Don’t tell me your crafting goes beyond the bombing!”

“Like the grenade launcher, do ya?” he asked her in anticipation and gave his self-built weapon on his belt a proud pat. “Yeah, made it meself! No big deal!”

****

“Hmm...I must admit, I got the thought that might be the case...I mean, I can tell!” she admitted the more she thought about it.

****

“ **Whaddaya _mean_ , ye can _tell_?** ” Jamison yelled in such an offended, elongated tone that Mei became too intimidated to calm him down.

Already sinking into the potential negative allusions like quicksand, the junker grumbled to himself, climbing faster: “Goes beyond the bombin’, she says, as if it was somethin’ completely unnecessary - somethin’ _dispensable_!”

Mei was well aware that she had hurt his feelings and let him finish.

“It **ab-so- _lute_ -ly** ain’t tha case that ye gotta blow up the old, so that the new can come ta be!” Junkrat justified himself with anger-steaming sarcasm. “ **Nohohohohoho** and there’s no way it could be fun! Nothin’ that hasta do with pyro shenanigans does! I mean, if there’s somethin’ all people ‘round the world agree on hatin’ it’s _fireworks_!”

“Junkrat, _please_...” Mei took heart and tried to make up for her mistake. “I’m sorry that I hurt you. I promise it was not my intention! I don’t blame you for getting this upset - especially when it means so _much_ to you...”

“ **Hah** , _obviously_ it wasn’t meant that way!” the sulky junker shoved her apology aside. “You never wanted ta get behoind the reasons why I love my job! Perhaps, sumodese overambitioned _tossers_ should get into their superficial airy-fairy heads that some things jus’ hafta be _enjoyable_ to have a roight to exist!”

He heard her take a loud, deep breath next to him, but Mei pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to say anything that would lead all of their hard work ad absurdum.

That Jamison described actual facts, when it came to the intrinsic motivation he defended, could not be denied - however, some of these things, which some people decided only to do for the sake of doing them, were _far_ from good and just.

****

“ _I doubt that this kind of reasoning serves as an excuse for putting countless people into severe danger - but oh well..._ ” conflicted with herself, Mei remained silent.

An answer of hers was something that Junkrat did not even wait for, as he went on: “Sure, no one may notice the lil’ happy faces I paint on me bombs - **but the details _matter_**!” with this, he yelled all of his anger for the lack of recognition out of his chest, before he had to admit something with a sad sigh. “Nevertheless...Allodis ain’t bringin’ me one step closer to what I meant to accomplish today...”

“What you meant to accomplish today?” Mei repeated, curious enough to stop her work for a second.

“Y’know, Mei, before makin’ me way down to ya, I’ve been lookin’ for something! It belonged to that tin can and I need it at all costs, should we wish ta roide this one out!” he explained to her, requesting her continued assistance with an impatient hand gesture. “It took me ages to meet up with ya, since I checked every _shard_ of that thing, but...t’was all for naught...kinda wish I’d figured that sooner and helped ya”, with the wider ledges in reach again, Junkrat got a sudden, brilliant idea. “Oi! If ye don’t mind tellin’ me how yer blaster thingy works, I could use it and keep searching here a lil’ longer, once I gotcha back home!”

He could feel Mei’s head turn to the left, as he heard her intrigued “Hmm?” in between the returning howling of the wind.

“Well... _home_ from home, but ye get the idea!” Junkrat specified with a warm smile. “No need ta fear, it’s jus’ a couple frog leaps away, bot- _and_ weather-resistant. I’ll make sure ya will enjoy your stay in me lovely four globetrotter walls and feel fantastic again, before ya can say “klutz”!” he laughed. “Even if that means comin’ back here for a second look-see. It’s basically the only place in reach I _didn’t_ check...”

However, his companion saw no further need for that, once she noticed something odd on one of the ledges nearby: “I’m so sorry, if I’m wrong, but...was it something...like this?”

Keeping his eyes on her pointing finger, the junker felt his jaw drop. Although the heavy snowfall had almost succeeded in hiding it here by the point of their return, Jamison’s internalized duties of forcing back Omnics saw right through it.

****

“Bonza!” he breathed, his ardent eyes longing for destruction the moment he pulled the both of them towards the Bastion’s battery. How valuable this scrap he held in his mittens turned out to be was something he would not waste his time with by explaining it to those, who would never understand - he would make sure to let them _witness_ it.

It would demand several careful arrangements and a strategic retreat, before it could come to this, however. Ready to take on the last few meters with one free hand left, Junkrat could only be held back by Mei’s shocked laughter and a swarm of “No!”s, increasing with every shake of her head.

“There’s no way I let you do this!” she insisted, already in search for the rope’s knots to untie around the junker’s navel.

“Do what? Doin’ me part, makin’ the world a better place?” Junkrat’s provocative smirk only triggered her exhausted sigh of concern.

Still genuinely uncertain about what Mei tried to get at, the junker gave in to her wish and helped her to regain solid ground beneath her feet.

****

“What’s a person gotta do to make you be careful for once, Jamison Fawkes?” Mei mumbled and slid down. “Thank you so much! What you’ve done for me is... _incredible_ ”, she reached for his arm and firmly grasped it, “but I will not just sit and watch, while you make a risk that costs you far more than there is to gain - not as long as _I_ can help it!”

“Roight back at cha, snowflake”, Jamison put his arm around her shoulder and let his warm, shimmering eyes meet hers.

It was this rare, calm tone of voice and how his gentle smile caused her own lips to return it that convinced Mei they understood one another.

****

She helped the junker to strap the battery onto his back, before she whispered: “Hold onto me. I’ve got an idea!”

Her startled, loud “ ** _Whoo!_** ” followed soon after, since Mei was still not used to the ambush that was Jamison’s affectionate embrace - and now knowing he wanted her to, the junker made full use of this chance. Together, they focused on the ground beneath them, where Mei’s blaster created an ice wall to lift them back into wind and weather in mere seconds.

“Off the chains...” Junkrat panted, still recovering in awe from this unique experience. “...Yer genius is off the _chains_ , Mei!”

Enthralled by their teamwork, Jamison would have loved to give Mei three heartfelt cheers - until he realized that she did not have it in her to celebrate any longer.

Again and again she squinted her eyes, getting exasperated over the fear of her legs giving in to the growing pain like toothpicks beneath an anvil.

Jamison gave her a silent nod, preparing them for a piggyback sprint to her rescue. The only slowdown was Mei’s bewildered gaze upwards, once she believed to have spotted something around the junker’s nose - which appeared to be slim cuts.

****

When she could hear and see the chunks of ice fall down around them, she believed her bad suspicion: “ _The Dagger Squalls...They’re back!_ ”

Near-instant, Mei tried to warn her companion of the anomaly, but Junkrat only raised his brow in confusion and followed the instructions Mei mimed for him, covering almost his entire face with his scarf and hood.

“ _ **The glasses!**_ ” her sudden realization scared Mei almost out of her skin. “ _ **I can’t believe I was benighted enough to not give him snow glasses!**_ ”

Her desire to aid overpowered any fear arising from the world’s most dangerous unpredictabilities.

Out of her heart’s affect, Mei swung herself backwards, pulling them both down into the snow with her weight. After covering them with an arch of ice, she began to rid herself of the baggage on her back.

While Junkrat kept asking her what all of this was for, Mei would have loved to answer his questions. However, her will and condition were too far apart to make her notice that she kept unsettling him with the word halves she uttered from what still sounded perfectly consistent and fluent in her head.

****

“Mei, wuzzat s’posed ta be, once it’s done? M- _No! **Heavens**_ -no! **Mei! Don’t zone out on me, _Mei_!** ” but she had no chance left to ease his worries.

Against her will, Jamison’s voice faded in her ears. Mei was unable to reach out to him, no matter how much she wished for it. The junker’s freaked expression seemed to continuously move further away from her, as her debilitation stole all the colours from her sight and - at last - the _light_. 

****

____________

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[1] Wǒ zài nǎlǐ? = Where am I? 

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[2] Bié kèqì. = You're welcome. 

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[3] Xièxiè. = Thanks.

****


End file.
